Safety-pin.



Pa tented Dec. 4, I900.- T. W. PITTS.

SAFETY PIN.

(Application filed Sept. 14, 1899.)

(No Model.)

ms mums were: 00., Pno'roum NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS W. PITTS, OF GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA.

SAFETY-PIN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 662,962, dated December 4, 1900.

' Application filed $eptember 14, 1899. Serial No. 730,425. (No model.)

T0 00% whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS W. PITTS, of Gainesville, in the county of Alachua, State of Florida, have in vented certain new and useful Improvements in Toilet-Pins, of which the following is a complete specification,reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

The object of my invention is to produce an improved toilet-pin which, in that it comprises a spring-actuated pin and keeper, is comprehended under the general class of safety-pins; but its range of use is more extensive than that of the usual safety-pin. It is adapted not only to be used like the ordinary safetypin, but also being applicable in such manner as to avoid strain upon the pin proper and to be employed in a variety of uses to which the ordinary safety-pin is not adapted.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure I is a perspective View of my pin, showing the pins proper held by the keepers. Fig. II is a similar view showing the pins open and in line with the keeper-frame.

Referring to the numerals onthe drawings, 1 indicates the cross-head, 2 and 3 the keepers, 4 and 5 the cross-head supports, and 6 and 7 the back strands of a frame that is preferably made entirely of wire. Each of the back strands 6 and 7 terminates in a pivotal member or resilient knuckle 8 and 9, respectively, which, when the frame of which the back strands constitute'a part is made of wire, is formed by suitable coils of wire. Within the knuckles 8 and 9 is carried a bowed pintle 10, whose opposite extremities terminate in piercing members or pins proper, 11 and 12, respectively. The pintle 10, with the members 11 and 12, constitutes a single substan tially U-shaped member.

In manufacturing the frame of my device in its preferred form (of wire) the keepers 2 and 3 are formed by bending, beginning at points equidistant from the middle point of the cross-head 1, which is the middle of a selected piece of wire. The supports 4and 5 and the back strands 6 and 7, respectively, are also formed by bending, and the equallycoiled knuckles 8 and 9 complete the frame.

In assembling the frame with its pintle and pins 11 and 12 a wire of suitable length is preferably passed through the knuckles, and, being bent at the opposite extremities of the knuckles, its opposite terminal portions constitute the pins 11 and 12.

The cross-head is bowed away from the keepers 2 and 3, and the bow of the pintle, already described, corresponds-to the bow of the cross-head, so that the complete device is in the shape of an arch, of which the back strands 6 and 7 approximate the crown. It is in consequence of the bow in the pintle 10 that the back strands 6 and 7 are made independent of each other. This is done not only because a single knuckle extending between the pins 11 and 12 would not permit free movement of the pintle, but also because the separate knuckles exert a spring action upon the bowed pintle 10, which tends to normally keep the pins 11 and 12 closed or in proximity to their keepers.

If preferred, the wire supports 4 and 5 may be intertwisted with the cross-head 1, and likewise the back strands 6 and 7 may be throughout a part of their length twisted. This, however, is mere detail of manufacture, to which it is not my intention to limit my invention otherwise than the present state of the art to which the invention belongs may of necessity impose.

It was above suggested in the general statement of the invention that my device is applicable to certain uses to which the ordinary safety-pin is not adapted and in such manner as to transfer the strain from the pin proper to the body part of the device. In other words, the strain may be imposed upon the terminal portions of the frame, While the pins 11 and 12 constitute mere retaining devices adapted to hold the frame in operative relations to those objects which it unites. In this connection it should be observed that the cross-head 1 at one end of the frame is reinforced by the supports 4 and 5 and that the knuckles 8 and 9 at the opposite extremity of the frame constitute, with their inclosed pintle 10, a comparatively rigid and unyielding counterpart to the reinforced cross-head at the opposite extremity of the frame.

What I claim is-- The herein-described safety-pin,comprisin g a frame having at one end a cross-head carrythe pin members and retain them within the [O keepers.

In testimony of all which I have hereunto subscribed my name THOMAS W'. PITTS.

Witnesses:

OHAs. E. RIORDAN, JOSEPH L. ATKINS. 

